Hello,
I have an Avid CNC PRO6060 and am looking to move past creating one item at a time on my machine. Since using multiple WCS for this machine is completely new for me, I was hopeful someone more knowledgeable could weigh in on my assumptions and understanding of the workflow of creating multiple of the same part.To summarize, here's my understanding of the workflow and where I have points of confusion.
The Project: I'm going to design a valet tray using Fusion 360 and I'd like to make a bunch of them. I'll switch to the manufacturing space and create a setup and appropriate toolpaths for the valet tray (surfacing, pockets, engraving, contour, etc.), and once completed update the setup to use multiple WCS offsets. For this arbitrary example, I want to make 4 valet trays out of four different species of wood at a time.
Tools:
T1 - 1/4" Endmill
T2 - 60 Degree V Bit
T3 - 1/4" Compression Endmill
1. Ensure that I have my fusion 360 setup to order operations by tool.
2. I'll prepare four appropriately sized blanks of material for each of the four trays I want to create.
3. Home the machine
4. Fixture each of the four pieces of material to the spoilboard (assuming best practices of course)
5. Manually install my first tool (T1) into the spindle. This is just a normal manual tool change and I'm assuming the first tool I'm using for the project.
6. Next I'll configure G54, G55, G56, and G57 fixture offsets in Mach 4 using the Avid CNC touchplate to locate the x, y, and z (because it always does z) location of each WCS fixture offset. Since I've configured my CAM setup to use the machine bed as my Z offset, I'll move the touchplate to the machine bed, change to G54, and use the touchplate to set the G54 Z Fixture Offset.
7. Next, copy the G54 Z offset value to the Z offset value of G55, G56, and G57 so they all reference the same Z fixture offset (machine bed / spoilboard)
8. Load my G-Code file and hit cycle start.
I'm assuming that at this point all my operations for the first tool should run perfectly fine, moving between WCS as needed until a toolchange occurs. Once I need T2, I'll move to the MTC location, remove T1 and install T2. Again, this isn't a huge deal, just a simple manual tool change. If I was running a single WCS I'd use the touchplate on the machine bed / spoilboard to reset the Z fixture offset and hit Resume G-Code and be on my way to a finished part. Easy.
However, in the case of multiple WCS this wouldn't work because I'd only be changing the Z offset for (in this case) G54 and G55-57 would all still be set to the Z offset for T1.
Now, in my brains I'd say... no big deal, just copy the G54 Z offset for T2 to the Z offset for G55-57 and hit Resume G-Code. I'm pretty sure this would work just fine, but I'm also pretty sure that this is the wrong or maybe less ideal way to do it. When you toss in the potential for me to mis-paste a value in the fixture offsets table and then find myself with incorrect Z offsets on one or more WCS, it feels wrong. I don't like this repeatative opportunity for human error and lack of flexibility in Z offsets (Think different vice sizes for example).
So, I read through the tool offsets section of the Mach 4 manual, and I'm assuming that using tool offsets are the way you SHOULD be doing this. I'm just not exactly sure how that manifests as changes to my assumed workflow here. Here are my assumptions that I'm really hoping someone who's done this before can weigh in on.
Assumption 1. The Avid CNC touchplate can only be used to set fixture offsets, and has no impact on tool offset. When cutting a single part, this simplifies tool changes and removes the burden of tool offsets from people like me who aren't as experienced (lower barrier to entry).
Assumption 2. If the above is true, then the tool change becomes truly manual, including setting the tool length offset in Mach 4.
With those assumptions in mind, here's what I'm thinking needs to happen.
1. Set up my fixture offsets for G54-57 exactly the same as above (x, y, and z) using T1 and the touchplate, and ensure that T1 length is Zero in the Tool Offsets table.
2. When the tool change occurs, change to T2 and following the Mach 4 guidelines touch T2 to my machine bed / spoilboard and note the Z offset on the DRO. This does NOT use the touchplate, and would be a completely manual operation.
3. Update the length for T2 in the tool offsets table.
4. Finish the tool change by hitting Resume G-Code to continue.
Phew, that's a lot to digest when I look at it!
Questions:
1. So, what do you think? Is this how tool changes happen with multiple WCS when you have an entirely manual fixture offset / tool offset workflow?
2. Am I completely wrong, or are there easier ways or maybe more automated ways to do this?
3. Do I need to somehow get G43 Hhh commands into my GCODE?
Any feedback, perspective, concerns, or questions or whatnot would be greatly appreciated!